The present invention relates to a machine-made, prefabricated shingle or shake structure, and to a prefabricated shake system which includes accessories for trimming and otherwise completing the covering of a roof and/or wall of a building with the shake structure and accessories.
Heretofore, machine-made shingles have involved a variety of designs and design features, which features have included the simulation of the surface profile of a wooden shingle. In a similar manner, shakes have been manufactured from metal sheet material, which shakes have attempted to simulate the configuration and randomness of hand-split wooden shakes. However, these shakes have not been aesthetically pleasing in that the surface grain of the shakes did not simulate the roughness of hand-split shakes, and the shakes of the panel have been of the same length so that the lower edge of the panel did not have a staggered edge configuration which would more truly resemble hand-split shakes. It is easier to make the shakes when the segments are all of one length since the stretching and tearing that would occur using ordinary techniques for a staggered butt configuration are thereby avoided.
Another problem that has been encountered in the use of metal shingles and shakes has been the rattling and noise accompanying windy atmospheric conditions. Such structures are not firmly held to the wall or roof thereby tending to allow movement of the shingle under high wind conditions.
Yet another problem attending the use of machine-made shingles and shakes is that of the penetration of water and airborne moisture beneath the shingles and into the area between the shingle and its supporting (wall or roof) structure.